lexicalize

English

Alternative forms

• lexicalise

Etymology

Etymology tree

English lexical

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor.

Late Latin -izōder.

Middle French -iserbor.

Middle English -isen

English -ize

English lexicalize

From lexical + -ize.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛksɪkəlaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

lexicalize (third-person singular simple present lexicalizes, present participle lexicalizing, simple past and past participle lexicalized)

1. (intransitive, of a term) To become part of the vocabulary of a language as a single lexical unit with a distinct meaning.
2. (transitive) To accept a term into one's own vocabulary as a distinct lexical unit.
   • 1975, Eric H. Lenneberg, Elizabeth Lenneberg, Foundations of Language Development: A Multidisciplinary Approach, volume 1, page 192:

     In fact, the child will lexicalize one, two, or three elements of the semantic representation according to his lexicalization span.

Derived terms

• lexicalizable
• lexicalizer
• mislexicalize
• nonlexicalized
• relexicalize
• unlexicalized

Related terms

• lexeme
• lexicalisation
• lexical item
• lexicalization
• lexical unit
• lexicography
• lexicology
• lexicon
• lexis

Translations

to convert to a single lexical unit

• Catalan: lexicalitzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 词汇化

• Czech: lexikalizovat
• Danish: leksikalisere
• French: lexicaliser (fr)
• German: lexikalisieren (de)
• Hungarian: lexikalizál
• Polish: leksykalizować impf, zleksykalizować (pl) pf
• Russian: лексикализо́вывать impf (leksikalizóvyvatʹ), лексикализова́ть (ru) pf (leksikalizovátʹ)
• Spanish: lexicalizar (es)